U.S. patent number 11,043,726 [Application Number 16/314,435] was granted by the patent office on 2021-06-22 for radio frequency interconnection device.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Interdigital Madison Patent Holdings, SAS. The grantee listed for this patent is Interdigital Madison Patent Holdings, SAS. Invention is credited to Anthony Aubin, Jean-Marc Le Foulgoc, Dominique Lo Hine Tong.
United States Patent |
11,043,726 |
Lo Hine Tong , et
al. |
June 22, 2021 |
Radio frequency interconnection device
Abstract
An interconnection system is described including a first printed
circuit board, the first printed circuit board including a first
portion of a filter, the filter used to communicate a signal
between the first printed circuit board and a second printed
circuit board, and a mechanical structure for coupling the signal
between the first printed circuit board and the second printed
circuit board, the second printed circuit board being oriented at
an angle with respect to the first printed circuit board.
Inventors: |
Lo Hine Tong; Dominique
(Rennes, FR), Aubin; Anthony (Bourgbarre,
FR), Le Foulgoc; Jean-Marc (Bourgbarre,
FR) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Interdigital Madison Patent Holdings, SAS |
Paris |
N/A |
FR |
|
|
Assignee: |
Interdigital Madison Patent
Holdings, SAS (Paris, FR)
|
Family
ID: |
1000005633749 |
Appl.
No.: |
16/314,435 |
Filed: |
June 27, 2017 |
PCT
Filed: |
June 27, 2017 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/EP2017/065917 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
December 30, 2018 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2018/002092 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
January 04, 2018 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20190319329 A1 |
Oct 17, 2019 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jun 30, 2016 [EP] |
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16305824 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01P
3/08 (20130101); H01P 1/203 (20130101); H05K
1/0237 (20130101); H05K 1/14 (20130101); H01P
5/02 (20130101); H05K 1/11 (20130101); H05K
2201/044 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01P
5/02 (20060101); H05K 1/02 (20060101); H01P
3/08 (20060101); H05K 1/14 (20060101); H05K
1/11 (20060101); H01P 1/203 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;361/803 ;333/185 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1249856 |
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Apr 2006 |
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CN |
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101521313 |
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Sep 2009 |
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CN |
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202333088 |
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Jul 2012 |
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CN |
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2096904 |
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Sep 2009 |
|
EP |
|
3018660 |
|
Sep 2015 |
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FR |
|
0241453 |
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May 2002 |
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WO |
|
Other References
Anonymous, "Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and
Physical Layer (PHY) specifications", IEEE Standard 802.11-2012,
Information Technology--Telecommunications and information exchange
between systems--Local and metropolitan area networks--Specific
requirements, IEEE, New York, NY, USA, Jun. 26, 1997, pp. 1-459.
cited by applicant .
Chen et al., "Printed Circuit Board Bandpass Filters with Octave
Bandwidth and Very Wide Upper Stopband", IEICE Transactions on
Electronics, vol. 90-C, No. 12, Dec. 2007, pp. 2205-2211. cited by
applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Patel; Rakesh B
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Invention Mine LLC
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. An interconnection system, comprising; a first printed circuit
board; a second printed circuit board, wherein the first printed
circuit board comprises a first portion of a bandpass filter,
wherein the bandpass filter is configured to communicate a signal
between the first printed circuit board and the second printed
circuit board; and a metal clip formed of curved strips configured
to couple the signal between the first printed circuit board and
the second printed circuit board, the second printed circuit board
being oriented at an angle with respect to the first printed
circuit board.
2. The interconnection system according to claim 1, wherein said
angle is a right angle.
3. The interconnection system according to claim 1, wherein said
bandpass filter is a symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass
filter.
4. The interconnection system according to claim 1, wherein said
metal clip provides a coupling using two electrical interface
connections.
5. The interconnection system according to claim 4, wherein one of
said two electrical interface connections is for said signal.
6. The interconnection system according to claim 1, wherein said
angle is an acute angle.
7. The interconnection system according to claim 1, wherein said
first printed circuit board comprises a first transmission line
connected to a first I/O port, and wherein said first transmission
line is terminated in an intermediate terminating pad, said
intermediate terminating pad being spaced apart from a first
grounding pad.
8. The interconnection system according to claim 7, wherein said
first transmission line is one of a micro-strip line, a coplanar
line, a strip-line or a multilayer line and wherein said second
transmission line is one of a micro-strip line, a coplanar line, a
strip-line or a multilayer line and wherein said first grounding
pad and said intermediate terminating pad are printed on an outer
surface of said first circuit board.
9. The interconnection system according to claim 7, wherein a
distance between said intermediate terminating pad and said first
grounding pad is between 100 and 200 .mu.m.
10. The interconnection system according to claim 7, wherein said
second printed circuit board comprises a third transmission line
that is connected to a second grounding pad, said second grounding
pad located directly above said first grounding pad, said third
transmission line also connected to an output line at an
intersection point, wherein said third transmission line is a
micro-strip line.
11. The interconnection system according to claim 7, wherein said
first transmission line is about one half-wavelength long.
12. The interconnection system according to claim 7, wherein said
first transmission line is straight.
13. The interconnection system according to claim 7, wherein said
first transmission line is meandering.
14. An electronic device, comprising: at least two printed circuit
boards, the at least two printed circuit boards comprising a first
printed circuit board and a second printed circuit board, the first
printed circuit board comprising a first portion of a bandpass
filter, wherein the bandpass filter is configured to communicate a
signal between the first printed circuit board and the second
printed circuit board, the second printed circuit board being
oriented at an angle with respect to the first printed circuit
board; and a metal clip formed of curved strips, the metal clip
being configured to couple the signal between the first printed
circuit board and the second printed circuit board.
15. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein said
bandpass filter is a symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass
filter.
16. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein said metal
clip provides a coupling using two electrical interface
connections.
17. The electronic device according to claim 16, wherein one of
said two electrical interface connections is for said signal.
18. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein said angle
is an acute angle.
19. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein said angle
is a right angle.
20. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein said first
printed circuit board comprises a first transmission line connected
to a first I/O port, and wherein said first transmission line is
terminated in an intermediate terminating pad, said intermediate
terminating pad being spaced apart from a first grounding pad.
21. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein said
second printed circuit board comprises a third transmission line
that is connected to a second grounding pad, said second grounding
pad located directly above said first grounding pad, said third
transmission line also connected to an output line at an
intersection point, wherein said third transmission line is a
micro-strip line.
22. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein said first
transmission line is about one half-wavelength long.
23. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein said first
transmission line is straight.
24. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein said first
transmission line is meandering.
25. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein a distance
between said intermediate terminating pad and said first grounding
pad is between 100 and 200 .mu.m.
26. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein said first
transmission line is one of a micro-strip line, a coplanar line, a
strip-line or a multilayer line and wherein said second
transmission line is one of a micro-strip line, a coplanar line, a
strip-line or a multilayer line and wherein said first grounding
pad and said intermediate terminating pad are printed on an outer
surface of said first circuit board.
Description
This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 365 of
International Application PCT/EP2017/065917, filed Jun. 27, 2017,
which was published in accordance with PCT Article 21(2) on Jan. 4,
2018, in English, and which claims the benefit of European Patent
Application No. 16305824.1, filed Jun. 30, 2016.
FIELD
The proposed apparatus (device) is directed to a radio frequency
interconnection device that enables the interconnection of two
circuit boards (for example, main printed circuit boards PCBs))
arranged, for example, perpendicularly.
BACKGROUND
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects
of art, which may be related to the present embodiments that are
described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in
providing the reader with background information to facilitate a
better understanding of the various aspects of the present
disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these
statements are to be read in this light.
FIG. 1 shows the mechanical architecture of a device that contains
four circuit boards interconnected to each other. In FIG. 1, the
Wi-Fi and the DVB-T front-end boards are interconnected to the
circuit board through an interconnected board and by using three
Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) connectors. FIG.
1, in particular, depicts a device having several circuit boards
that are perpendicular to each other and are interconnected using
conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe)
connectors.
FIG. 2 shows a set top box having several circuit boards that are
perpendicular to each other and are interconnected using
conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe)
connectors. In FIG. 2, the set top box also includes four circuit
boards. A circuit board is disposed horizontally and the three
other circuit boards (Wi-Fi, front-end and interface boards) are
perpendicular to the circuit board. The board-to-board
interconnection between the circuit boards is also accomplished in
FIG. 2 by using Peripheral Component Interconnect express
connectors.
As known in the art, common multi-pins connectors, such as
Peripheral Component Interconnect express connectors, cannot be
used to transmit radio frequency (RF) signals because of the
inherent high impedance mismatching that impairs the integrity of
the radio frequency signals. In the radio frequency field, to avoid
impedance mismatching when transmitting a signal between circuit
boards (board-to-board (B2B)), alternative solutions must be
adopted.
FIG. 3 depicts two circuit boards that are arranged parallel to
each other and which are interconnected using a metal part, an
element of which is electromagnetically coupled to the
board-to-board (circuit board to circuit board) grounding screw.
The electromagnetic coupling to the grounding screw ensures
wideband impedance matching.
When two circuit boards are disposed orthogonally to each other,
several state-of-the-art solutions can be used to transmit circuit
board to circuit board (B2B) radio frequency signals. The most
common interconnection solution is the use of a coaxial cable.
Indeed, with the drastic cost constraints in terms of design of new
electronic devices, using a coaxial cable is prohibitively
costly.
FIG. 4 shows two circuit boards that are perpendicular to each
other and which are interconnected by pins (G, S, G) integrated
into the vertical circuit board 405. The pins (G, S, G) of the
vertical circuit board fit into holes 425 of the horizontal circuit
board 410. The vertical circuit board has a ground plane 420 and
the horizontal circuit board also has a ground plane 415. Using
pins integrated to the vertical circuit board can also be applied
to circuit board to circuit board (board-to-board (B2B)
interconnection of radio frequency signals. FIG. 4 shows an example
of circuit boards perpendicular to each other, where the vertical
board 405 contains three pins (one signal pin and two ground pins
(G, S, G)). The drawback to using pins on the vertical circuit
board 405 to interconnect radio frequency signals between the
vertical circuit board 405 and the horizontal circuit board 410 is
related to the feasibility of high volume production and at low
cost. Indeed, since the ground pins are required to be very close
to the signal pin in order to minimize impedance mismatching, this
requirement is incompatible with the low cost technologies and
materials, and the large fabrication tolerances used for set top
box manufacturing.
FIG. 5 depicts two circuit boards interconnected using a single pin
12 and having a filtering pattern that enables a wideband
interconnect. The use of a single circuit board pin 12 with a
specific filtering pattern to enable a wideband interconnection
between two perpendicular circuit boards (10, 1) requires a manual
soldering of the ground and signal patterns.
FIG. 6 shows two circuit boards that are perpendicular to each
other and which are interconnected by one or more U-shaped metal
clips. The clips include a planar baseplate to be soldered onto the
horizontal circuit board signal pad or ground pad, and two arms
bent in a way to provide a spring effect and thus to make the
U-shaped ends come in contact with the vertical circuit board.
Despite the low cost offered by this solution, its disadvantage is
a minimum of two clips are required, one clip to transmit the
signal and a second clip to transmit the ground between the two
circuit boards. Also, since the distance between signal and ground
clips must be accurately ensured, low cost processes are
incompatible with this solution.
SUMMARY
The proposed apparatus is directed to a metal part that enables the
interconnection of two circuit boards (PCBs) arranged at an angle
to one another, for example, perpendicularly. The proposed
apparatus aims to transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal in a wide
frequency range, addressing for instance WLAN applications in both
the 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHz bands of the IEEE. 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
standard.
The proposed interconnection device (apparatus) has been designed
in the framework of the development of small size set-top-boxes
(STB) which integration constraints require the use of several
circuits boards (e.g., printed circuit boards (PCBs))
interconnected with each other. The proposed interconnection
apparatus (device) is described in terms of a set top box, but is
not so limited, and may include gateways, smart home devices, home
networking device or any other electronic device that has circuit
boards that must be interconnected in such a manner as to couple a
first transmission signal on a first circuit board with a third
transmission signal on a second circuit board.
The proposed interconnection device (apparatus) offers an
interconnection solution that sets out to address the above
described disadvantages of conventional solutions. In a particular
embodiment the proposed interconnection device (apparatus) includes
a surface mountable single metal clip capable of interconnecting
the radio frequency signals from a first circuit board and a second
circuit board and the grounding signal from a board-to-board
interconnection.
A radio frequency interconnection device is described including a
first part of the radio frequency interconnection device being
disposed on a first circuit board and a second part of the radio
frequency interconnection device disposed on a second circuit
board.
The first part of the radio frequency interconnection device
includes a first transmission line connected to ground at a first
I/O port. It should be noted that the first transmission line and
second transmission line may be a micro-strip line, a strip-line, a
coplanar line or a multilayer line. In the description herein
micro-strip line will be used as an example and should not be taken
as limiting. Micro-strip line and transmission line may also be
used interchangeably in the description herein. The first
transmission line is connected to an intermediate terminating pad,
the intermediate terminating pad being spaced apart from a first
grounding pad and a second transmission line is connected to the
first transmission line. The second part of the radio frequency
interconnection device includes a third micro-strip line that is a
U-shape connected to a second grounding pad. The second grounding
pad is located directly above the first grounding pad. The third
micro-strip line is also connected to an output line at an
intersection point.
The first part of the radio frequency interconnection device is
attached to the second part of the radio frequency interconnection
device with two baseplates. A first baseplate being between the
first grounding pad and the second grounding pad and a second
baseplate being between the intersection point and the intermediate
terminating pad. The baseplates provide an air gap between the
first circuit board and the second circuit board. Both the first
circuit board and the second circuit board have a ground plane.
The first transmission line 925 is about half-wavelength long and
may be straight or meandering. The second transmission line 935 is
about quarter-wavelength long and may be straight or meandering
The first circuit board and the second circuit board are orthogonal
to each other. The first circuit board may be horizontal and the
second circuit board may be vertical or the first circuit board may
be vertical and the second circuit board may be horizontal.
The intermediate terminating pad is spaced apart from the first
grounding pad by between 100 and 200 .mu.m.
At an output port of the second circuit board, a shunt element
(short circuit stub line) enables an interconnection between the
first circuit board and the second circuit board. From the input
port to the output port the circuit exhibits a bandpass type
filtering response.
An electronic device includes a plurality of circuit boards any
pair of which are interconnected using a radio frequency
interconnection device according to any the above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The proposed method and apparatus is best understood from the
following detailed description when read in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings. The drawings include the following figures
briefly described below:
FIG. 1 depicts a device having several circuit boards that are
perpendicular to each other and are interconnected using
conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe)
connectors.
FIG. 2 shows a set top box (STB) having several circuit boards that
are perpendicular to each other and are interconnected using
conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe)
connectors.
FIG. 3 depicts two circuit boards that are arranged parallel to
each other and which are interconnected using a metal part, an
element of which is coupled to the board-to-board (B2B) grounding
screw.
FIG. 4 shows two circuit boards that are perpendicular to each
other and which are interconnected by pins integrated into the
vertical circuit board.
FIG. 5 depicts two circuit boards interconnected using a single pin
and having a filtering pattern that enables a wideband
interconnect.
FIG. 6 shows two circuit boards that are perpendicular to each
other and which are interconnected by one or more U-shaped metal
clips.
FIG. 7 is an exemplary design of a symmetric radio frequency
wideband bandpass filter in accordance with the embodiments of the
invention.
FIG. 8 shows the filter response for the exemplary symmetric radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter of FIG. 7.
FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary symmetric radio frequency wideband
bandpass filter in accordance with embodiments of the
invention.
FIG. 10 shows the behavior for the exemplary symmetric radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter of FIG. 9.
FIG. 11 shows a first portion of the exemplary symmetric radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter. The first portion does not
include TL3 or the output line.
FIG. 12 shows the second (remaining) portion of the exemplary
symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass filter including TL3
and the output line and on a second circuit board.
FIG. 13 shows a close-up sectional view of the interconnection
between orthogonal circuit boards using an embodiment of the
proposed apparatus, with an air gap separating the circuit boards
in order to avoid a short-circuit.
FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of the proposed interconnection device
(apparatus), wherein TL3 can be considered to be a single metal
part with two baseplates (on two circuit boards).
FIG. 15 shows the response and performance of an embodiment of the
proposed interconnection device (apparatus).
FIG. 16 is an exemplary embodiment of the proposed interconnection
device (apparatus).
FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a media device such as a set top
box.
It should be understood that the drawing(s) are for purposes of
illustrating the concepts of the disclosure and is not necessarily
the only possible configuration for illustrating the
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present description illustrates the principles of the present
disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the
art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not
explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the
disclosure and are included within its scope.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended
for educational purposes to aid the reader in understanding the
principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the
inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being
without limitation to such specifically recited examples and
conditions.
Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and
embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples
thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional
equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such
equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as
equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed
that perform the same function, regardless of structure.
Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the
art that the block diagrams presented herein represent conceptual
views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the
disclosure. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts,
flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudocode, and the like
represent various processes which may be substantially represented
in computer readable media and so executed by a computer or
processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly
shown.
The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may be
provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware
capable of executing software in association with appropriate
software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be
provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared
processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of
which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term "processor"
or "controller" should not be construed to refer exclusively to
hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include,
without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read
only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM),
and nonvolatile storage.
Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included.
Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptual only.
Their function may be carried out through the operation of program
logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program
control and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular
technique being selectable by the implementer as more specifically
understood from the context.
In the claims hereof, any element expressed as a means for
performing a specified function is intended to encompass any way of
performing that function including, for example, a) a combination
of circuit elements that performs that function or b) software in
any form, including, therefore, firmware, microcode or the like,
combined with appropriate circuitry for executing that software to
perform the function. The disclosure as defined by such claims
resides in the fact that the functionalities provided by the
various recited means are combined and brought together in the
manner which the claims call for. It is thus regarded that any
means that can provide those functionalities are equivalent to
those shown herein.
The proposed interconnection device (apparatus) is described below
step by step from the origin of the idea to the application to an
example of realization.
FIG. 7 is an exemplary design of a symmetric radio frequency
wideband bandpass filter in accordance with the principles of the
proposed apparatus. The symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass
filter of FIG. 7 includes three theoretical transmission lines
TLIN, one (TL1) connected to the input (P1) and output (P2) ports
and the two other lines (TL2, TL3) connected to the ground at their
respective I/O ports. For each TLIN, Z is defined as the
characteristic impedance of the line, E is defined as the
electrical length (in degrees) and F is defined as the related
frequency.
FIG. 8 shows the filter response for the exemplary symmetric radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter of FIG. 7. With the values of
the design of the symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass
filter as shown in FIG. 7 and described above, the filter responses
are plotted in FIG. 8, showing a wide passing band (dB(S12)) from
2-6 GHz, with low reflection coefficient (dB(S11)<-20 dB). This
is in the ideal case.
FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary symmetric radio frequency wideband
bandpass filter in accordance with the principles of the proposed
apparatus when it is provided on a planar board. Using micro-strip
lines printed onto a low-cost fiberglass reinforced epoxy (FR4)
based multilayer substrate, results in the circuit presented in
FIG. 9, with first transmission line 925 (TL1) length at around 20
mm, i.e. half-wavelength at 4 GHz. First transmission line 925
(TL1) is connected to input port 915 (P1) and output port 920 (P2).
Second transmission line 935 (TL2) is connected to first
transmission line 925 (TL1). Third transmission line 930 (TL3) is
also connected to first transmission line 925 (TL1). Third
transmission line 930 (TL3) terminates in grounded via-hole 910.
Transmission lines 935 (TL2) and 930 (TL3) are shunt elements (and
are also called short circuit stub lines). Straight lines are used
here, but, of course, the lines can meander in order to
significantly compact the design.
FIG. 10 shows the behavior for the exemplary symmetric radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter of FIG. 9. With the filter shown
in FIG. 9 and described above, the behavior shown in FIG. 10 is
close to the behavior of the ideal filter of FIG. 7, with naturally
higher insertion loss (due to mainly to the high dielectric loss of
the FR4 substrate, Df.about.0.02).
From the above described single horizontal planar filter, it is
possible to consider placing a portion of the filter network in a
second plane, for instance, onto a vertical circuit board. The
proposed interconnection device (apparatus) includes placing the
shunt element (short circuit stub line) TL3 on the vertical circuit
board to provide the interconnection between the two circuit boards
using only a single metal part disposed on two perpendicular
circuit boards.
FIG. 11 shows a first portion of the exemplary symmetric radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter. The first portion of the
exemplary symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass filter is
disposed on a first circuit board 1105 having a ground plane 1110.
Input port 1115 is connected to first transmission line 1130 (TL1).
First transmission line 1130 (TL1) of the filter terminates in
intermediate terminating pad 1120 (P2i). Grounding pad 1125 (PG1)
is spaced apart from intermediate terminating pad 1120 (P2i). The
first part of the filter on the first circuit board may be realized
using other transmission lines such as strip-lines, coplanar lines,
multilayer lines as well as micro-strip lines subject to the
constraint that grounding pad 1125 and intermediate terminating pad
1120 are printed on the top layer of the first circuit board. The
first portion does not include TL3 or the output line. The distance
between PG1 and P2i is in the range of 100-200 .mu.m depending on
the frequency range of operation.
FIG. 12 shows the second (remaining) portion of the exemplary
symmetric radio frequency wideband bandpass filter including TL3
and the output line on a second circuit board, the second circuit
board being orthogonal to the first circuit board. TL3 is formed in
an inverted narrow U-shape so that coming from the intermediate
terminating pad P2i it returns to the ground pad PG1. On the second
circuit board, TL3 is in contact with the output port P2 at an
intersection point C and with a ground pad PG2 located above PG1.
The elements of the first circuit board are indicated with the same
reference indicia as on FIG. 11 and will not be described again.
The second circuit board 1205 has a ground plane 1210. Third
transmission line 1220 (TL3) is a shunt element (short circuit stub
line). It should be noted that third transmission line 1220 (TL3)
may be another shape than an inverted U-shape as described above
provided that connections 1125, 1120, 1225 and C are ensured.
Output port 1215 (P2) is in contact with third transmission line
1220 (TL3) at intersection point C. Grounding pad 1225 (PG2) is
located above grounding pad 1125 (PG1).
Any kind of filter circuit may be applied provided the circuit
contains, at the output port, a short-circuit stub line (shunt
element) (TL3) that enables realization of the interconnection with
the perpendicular circuit board (e.g., printed circuit board
(PCB)).
FIG. 13 shows a close-up sectional view of the interconnection
between the first and second orthogonal circuit boards using an
embodiment of the proposed apparatus, with an air gap separating
the first and second circuit boards in order to avoid a
short-circuit. TL3 can now be considered as a single metal part
with two baseplates soldered to the respective pads PG1 and P2i
printed on the first circuit board, as illustrated in FIG. 14,
which shows the proposed interconnection device (apparatus),
wherein TL3 can be considered a single metal part with two
baseplates (on two circuit boards) perpendicular to each other. The
various elements of FIG. 13 are labeled with the same reference
indicia as used to label the elements in FIGS. 11 and 12. At this
point, TL3 should be considered as an electrical model designed to
prove the concept. High volume realization methods are described
below.
The entire circuit as described above and shown in FIG. 12 has been
simulated using a 3D electromagnetic simulation tool as
proof-of-concept. FIG. 15 shows the response and performance of the
proposed interconnection device (apparatus). As can be seen from
FIG. 15 the response and performance are similar to a uni-planar
filter (FIG. 10). The achieved performances in term of bandwidth
enable the proposed interconnection device (apparatus) to be
applied to dual-band WLAN applications, up to 6 GHz.
The proposed interconnection device (apparatus) can be fabricated
using a well-known stamping process and there are several ways to
interconnect the different pins to the circuit board and to the
metal plate. One such fabrication of the proposed interconnection
device (apparatus) is illustrated in FIG. 16, where curved strips
are introduced in order provide the requested flexibility to ensure
the contact with grounding pad 1225 (PG2) and intersection point C
disposed on the second circuit board. Grounding pad 1125 (PG1) and
intermediate terminating pad 1120 (P2i) are disposed on the first
circuit board.
FIG. 17 is an example block diagram of the media device 1700 of
FIG. 2. A media device is an electronic device such as, but not
limited to, a set top box. The block diagram configuration includes
a bus-oriented 1750 configuration interconnecting a processor 1720,
and a memory 1745. The configuration of FIG. 17 also includes a
network interface 1705 and may include either a wired or a wireless
interface or both.
Processor 1720 provides computation functions for the media device,
such as the one depicted in FIG. 2. The processor 1720 can be any
form of CPU or controller that utilizes communications between
elements of the media device to control communication and
computation processes. Those of skill in the art recognize that bus
1750 provides a communication path between the various elements of
embodiment 1700 and that other point-to-point interconnection
options (e.g. non-bus architecture) are also feasible.
User interface and display 1710 is driven by interface circuit
1715. The interface 1710 is used as a multimedia interface having
both audio and video capability to display streamed or downloaded
audio and/or video and/or multimedia content obtained via network
interface 1725 and connection 1705 to a network.
Memory 1745 can act as a repository for memory related to any of
the methods that incorporate the functionality of the media device.
Memory 1745 can provide the repository for storage of information
such as program memory, downloads, uploads, or scratchpad
calculations as well as the storage of streamed or downloaded
content including audio, video and multimedia content. Those of
skill in the art will recognize that memory 1745 may be
incorporated all or in part of processor 1720. Network interface
1725 has both receiver and transmitter elements for communication
as known to those of skill in the art.
Network interface 1725 may include a wireless interface to
communicate wirelessly to transmit requests for audio and/or video
and/or multimedia content and receive the requested audio and/or
video and/or multimedia content. In order to do so, a radio
frequency interface may be provided. The radio frequency interface
transmits and receives using an antenna, which may use a radio
frequency wideband bandpass filter. The radio frequency wideband
bandpass filter circuit may be split across two circuit boards,
which are orthogonal to each other. The orthogonal circuit boards
may use the interconnection device depicted in FIGS. 12 and 13 and
described above.
Any other filter networks terminated by a shunt (short circuit stub
line) transmission line, such as the example considered herein, can
use the proposed interconnection device.
It is to be understood that the proposed method and apparatus may
be implemented in various forms of hardware, software, firmware,
special purpose processors, or a combination thereof. Special
purpose processors may include application specific integrated
circuits (ASICs), reduced instruction set computers (RISCs) and/or
field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Preferably, the proposed
method and apparatus is implemented as a combination of hardware
and software. Moreover, the software is preferably implemented as
an application program tangibly embodied on a program storage
device. The application program may be uploaded to, and executed
by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture. Preferably, the
machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such
as one or more central processing units (CPU), a random access
memory (RAM), and input/output (I/O) interface(s). The computer
platform also includes an operating system and microinstruction
code. The various processes and functions described herein may
either be part of the microinstruction code or part of the
application program (or a combination thereof), which is executed
via the operating system. In addition, various other peripheral
devices may be connected to the computer platform such as an
additional data storage device and a printing device.
It should be understood that the elements shown in the figures may
be implemented in various forms of hardware, software or
combinations thereof. Preferably, these elements are implemented in
a combination of hardware and software on one or more appropriately
programmed general-purpose devices, which may include a processor,
memory and input/output interfaces. Herein, the phrase "coupled" is
defined to mean directly connected to or indirectly connected with
through one or more intermediate components. Such intermediate
components may include both hardware and software based
components.
It is to be further understood that, because some of the
constituent system components and method steps depicted in the
accompanying figures are preferably implemented in software, the
actual connections between the system components (or the process
steps) may differ depending upon the manner in which the proposed
method and apparatus is programmed. Given the teachings herein, one
of ordinary skill in the related art will be able to contemplate
these and similar implementations or configurations of the proposed
method and apparatus.
For purposes of this application and the claims, using the
exemplary phrase "at least one of A, B and C," the phrase means
"only A, or only B, or only C, or any combination of A, B and
C."
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